Yes, dipping your french fries in a Frosty – any kind of ice cream is uncalled for and the unpardonable sin. If you visit a Wendy’s and dare to combine those two items, the blood of Jesus can cover your sins, but not that sin.

Sounds stupid, huh?

Well, that’s because it is. But how stupid is it really? Is it as stupid as saying that you have to be this denomination or that denomination to get into Heaven? Is it as stupid as saying ‘God needed another flower in Heaven”? Is it as stupid as saying “This tragedy happened for a reason. God has a plan”?

Is it as stupid as saying one of the countless things we choose to say that doesn’t agree with the Bible? Is it as stupid as saying “I’m sick” even though the Bible says “by the the stripes of Christ, I am healed,” “I am redeemed from the curse of the law,” “I believe and therefore I speak”?

You see, people in general, Christians specifically here, like to add things to their faith that have no business being there. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day did this exact same thing. It was called the traditions of man. It were these things that put people into bondage, even though God was trying to bring them freedom.

When I was a teenager, I went to 4-H camp as a leader. I walked around the whole week with my backpack on because any free time I got, I wanted to read the Bible. There were times when I had to oversee the campers, but there were other times I was free to do what I wanted.

One morning midway through camp, one of the older volunteers who I didn’t really know asked what was in my backpack. I told her among other things, my Bible. She was thrilled to hear that. She was a Christian too. Very awesome. She started asking me where I went to church and then stated where she went. Then it went from friendly conversations to prying cross-examination. Do you do this in your church? Do you take communion every service? The Bible says you’re supposed to.

As kindly as I could, I ended the conversation. I didn’t know how to answer those questions. I hadn’t been saved that long and here this woman was – in her sixties or seventies, probably a church goer most her life, knew enough of the Bible to be dangerous. By the way, the Bible doesn’t say you’re supposed to take communion every service. Search it out yourself and see.

As nice and well-meaning as that wonderful saint of God was, she had added things to salvation. She had added things to her faith. I had to go to her denomination. I had to do what her church did. It didn’t matter what the Bible said at that moment. It didn’t matter that I was saved on my way to Heaven and loved God and was doing all I could do to follow Him. What was more important was this: What does her church say to do, not what the Bible says. I’m sure she thought they were the same, but the weren’t. They aren’t.

Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. [6] Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar. – Proverbs 30:5-6

I’ve had this same type of conversation echoed on religious radio over and over. I flip through the radio and stop on this one program every now and then just to hear what they say. It’s a call in show for people with Bible questions and the host always….always responds with “the church says.” Very rarely will he add in, “the scriptures say.” Even if he has a guest sit in to answer questions, you’ll get “the church says” from the guest as well.

I’ve noticed this same trend over and over in life. As I was attending church with a friend growing up, I had the elders of the church come and…well, corner me. Then they asked me to get baptized (if my parents were okay with it), because they knew I had ben baptized in another denomination. At that young age, my brain thought – clearer than any of those elders apparently – “so you want me to be baptized from being a Christian to being a…Christian?” I wasn’t even saved that that time, just going to church with my friend. They could have started there. Even in my unsaved state, I knew what they were doing was wrong.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. – Matthew 18:6

Man had added things to what salvation was. That didn’t help my church attendance or spiritual growth. In fact, as soon as that event ended, I never stepped foot in that church again. Man’s ideas and opinions drove me away from God. How many people have been driven away from God because of man’s plans and haven’t found their way back to God? People are going to stand and answer for those words and actions one day.

We have to understand that our ideas and opinions mean absolutely nothing. What does the Bible say? That’s what is the most important thing. And we need to know what it says. We need to know what it says so we can know God. But we also need to know what it says because there are enough people out there who know just enough of the Bible to be dangerous, to twist the scripture – well-meaning or not. These people draw people away from God, or bring them into bondage to man’s traditions and man’s religious thinking instead of leading them into the freedom found in the truth of Christ.

This is why it is so important to know the Word of God and be led by the Spirit. That are times when I hear something spoken, rather from a pulpit or from somewhere else – and I know it is wrong. I know it’s not the Bible because it doesn’t agree with what I know about the Bible. It doesn’t matter if they did use a scripture. That scripture doesn’t mean what they said. Anyone can take a scripture out fo context and twist it to say whatever they want. Sometimes people have pure motives and they’re just ignorant of the truth. Other times they’re intentionally trying to be deceptive. That’s why we must know the truth for ourselves. Don’t rely on your pastor to be a Bible scholar. You be one.

These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. – Acts 17:11

There’s other times when I hear something that’s spoken or done and there’s something that goes off in me. I can’t give you a scripture, but something on the inside tells me that it isn’t right. That’s the Spirit of God on the inside of you leading you into all truth. Later I would go out and study it out and find out that the something going off inside of me was 100% right. What was being said wasn’t right.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. – Romans 8:14

I’ve even had times when a person preaching would be doing something, saying something, even laying hands on the sick and healing them – and that same feeling goes off in me. Something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t tell you what. Everything looked right, but it didn’t seem right. I couldn’t put words to it, but that person wasn’t right. Some time later that same person would come up before more seasoned ministers that knew the Holy Ghost. Not just one, but multiple ministers said the exact same thing – they don’t know what it is, but something isn’t right.

That’s the Holy Ghost. That’s why it’s important to know the Word and know the Holy Ghost.

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ – Matthew 7:22-23

In these days when being a Christian can mean so many things and what a real Christian actually is, it’s important to know the Word and the holy Spirit. Don’t be deceived by the traditions of man, the words of man, or anything else that is not of God.